52a Bus Service Very Poor

[Ms Macbeth 73]

Does anyone else use this service?  From being one of the most reliable services, its a complete shambles now.  I almost missed a hospital appointment at the RHH even though I set off very early.  The electronic screen at Hillsborough interchange was showing arrival times that just didn’t happen!
 

What is the point of having electronic notice boards if they are inaccurate? I also use the TSY tracker on my phone, but buses show as on their way, then disappear into a black hole.  

[Kidorry 189]

I think you could apply that to most routes these days. Ours, the number 8 and 8a very often are missing and they are only every half hour. We are lucky we live near the tram, when it is running.

 

[BigAl1 143]

56 minutes ago, Ms Macbeth said:
 

What is the point of having electronic notice boards if they are inaccurate? I also use the TSY tracker on my phone, but buses show as on their way, then disappear into a black hole.  

According to the PTE because they are sometimes right. 

[Andy C 85]

There are two issues

• Covid related driver shortages, planned cancellations are published on the day at https://www.firstbus.co.uk/sheffield/plan-journey/timetables/journey-cancellations
• Sheffield's worsening traffic congestion. I've noticed buses suffer most during the afternoon school run (around 3pm) as bus lanes etc don't start operating until 4pm.

I'd recommend bookmarking the bustimes.org website on your phone, the map that tracks buses live is very useful! The following link takes you to the list of areas of Sheffield https://bustimes.org/districts/263. Click on the area then you can either click on map to show you everything in the area, alternatively click on a bus stop to show scheduled times then you can click on a particular departure to show you where that bus currently is along with all the other buses on the same route.

Edited May 12, 2022 by Andy C

[Annie Bynnol 612]

As a regular user of the 52 and 52a it is sad to see the decline of the First 52a service.

There are three issues regarding the 52a:

Punctuality along the whole route is badly affected by the addition of Loxley/Wisewood to the route as evidenced by the 52 Stagecoach service not suffering the same problems.

Cancellations and what appear to be last minute short workings are too common.

Service cuts on the 52 and 52a leading to overcrowding and resuting in delays and bunching.

 

This afternoon the following are cancelled:

52aWoodhouse Loxley13:18

52aArundel Gate Woodhouse13:43

52aWoodhouse Waingate14:33

52aLoxley Woodhouse14:45

52aHigh Street Loxley14:56

52aLoxley Arundel Gate15:45

52aHigh Street Loxley16:00

52aWoodhouse Loxley16:18

52aLoxley Woodhouse16:45

 

 

Edited May 12, 2022 by Annie Bynnol

[Ms Macbeth 73]

5 hours ago, Andy C said:

There are two issues

• Covid related driver shortages, planned cancellations are published on the day at https://www.firstbus.co.uk/sheffield/plan-journey/timetables/journey-cancellations
• Sheffield's worsening traffic congestion. I've noticed buses suffer most during the afternoon school run (around 3pm) as bus lanes etc don't start operating until 4pm.

I'd recommend bookmarking the bustimes.org website on your phone, the map that tracks buses live is very useful! The following link takes you to the list of areas of Sheffield https://bustimes.org/districts/263. Click on the area then you can either click on map to show you everything in the area, alternatively click on a bus stop to show scheduled times then you can click on a particular departure to show you where that bus currently is along with all the other buses on the same route.

Thanks for the link, I’ll give it a go.

 

I think Wisewood and Loxley residents, in fact anyone who travels up Dykes Hall Road,  would love the local services 6 and 6a to return.   No cross city travel which is a major issue. 

[Guest busdriver1]

15 minutes ago, Ms Macbeth said:

I think Wisewood and Loxley residents, in fact anyone who travels up Dykes Hall Road,  would love the local services 6 and 6a to return.   No cross city travel which is a major issue. 

Cross city travel was introduced to try and keep the costs down to a level that the customers would support ( I know its the way I tell them). It is well known that doing so reduces reliability but the good people of Sheffield wanted cheap so they got cheap.

[Guest busdriver1]

23 minutes ago, LovePotion said:

I wonder how many people travel on the 52a from Wisewood/Loxley right through to the city centre? The bus seems fairly empty beyond Hillsborough towards Wisewood from what I have seen. If running trans-city is key to providing a service, then perhaps they should re-route the 95a to Wisewood instead of Walkley (does Walkley really need three bus services?) and simply run the 52a to/from Hillsborough.

The 95 serves a completely different route to walkeley and guess what? It suffers problems through being a cross town route. Routing it through Hillsborough will add another congestion point to a route that is already struggling. 

Edited May 12, 2022 by busdriver1

[Padders 2,849]

13 minutes ago, LovePotion said:

I meant run the 95a through West Bar/Langsett Road and up to Wisewood. There are three services at the moment to Walkley, 52a, 95 and 95a. It makes more sense to run either the 95 or 95a to Wisewood and omit Commonside/Walkley than it does to run the 52a, which is already a long route that takes a long way round to Hillsborough to Wisewood/Loxley/Bradfield School. The 52a also suffers problems at other parts of the route such as Western Bank, which is often gridlocked.

Simple answer to all the bus problems...

Bring in a Dolbus system, flag em down, chuck em 50p, jobs a good un.

Works in Turkey.

[alexander874 17]

A tramlink  bus terminating in Hillsborough covering Widewood/Loxley would be the the best idea.

[Annie Bynnol 612]

1 hour ago, LovePotion said:

I meant run the 95a through West Bar/Langsett Road and up to Wisewood. There are three services at the moment to Walkley, 52a, 95 and 95a. It makes more sense to run either the 95 or 95a to Wisewood and omit Commonside/Walkley than it does to run the 52a, which is already a long route that takes a long way round to Hillsborough to Wisewood/Loxley/Bradfield School. The 52a also suffers problems at other parts of the route such as Western Bank, which is often gridlocked.

The 95/95a provides a 15 minute service, removing one of them would result in a 30 minute service between Brook Hill and Tinker Lane which is insufficient to meet demand.

The 52 /52a only serve a small part of Walkley(Walkley Cottage/library).

[Guest busdriver1]

2 hours ago, LovePotion said:

I meant run the 95a through West Bar/Langsett Road and up to Wisewood. There are three services at the moment to Walkley, 52a, 95 and 95a. It makes more sense to run either the 95 or 95a to Wisewood and omit Commonside/Walkley than it does to run the 52a, which is already a long route that takes a long way round to Hillsborough to Wisewood/Loxley/Bradfield School. The 52a also suffers problems at other parts of the route such as Western Bank, which is often gridlocked.

Try travelling on the 95 route. And by the way it gets very busy. 

Edited May 12, 2022 by busdriver1